The family never forgot the girl ripped from her mother's arms that day in 1988.

Her mother, Shanara Mobley, told the Florida Times-Union newspaper on the 10th anniversary of the kidnapping that on every one of her daughter's birthdays, she wrapped a piece of cake in foil and froze it.

"It's stressful to wake up every day, knowing that your child is out there and you have no way to reach her or talk to her," she told the paper in 2008.

News moved quickly through the community of about 5,100 people on Friday after police cars swarmed around Ms Williams' home.

Mr Jenkins said he awoke to see officers searching the house and a shed behind it.

"At the fish market, the hair dresser, the gas station, they're all talking about it," said Ruben Boatwright, who said he has known Ms Williams for about 15 years.

Lakeshia Jenkins, Mr Joseph's wife, said Ms Williams and the girl would often come over for cookouts in the yard, or join their family at a nearby water park.

Ms Mobley seemed to be well cared for and "Ms Williams, she seemed like a normal person", Ms Jenkins said.

"She went to work, came back here and went to church every Sunday," she said.

Ms Williams also worked for the Department of Veterans Affairs' hospital in Charleston, volunteered in the area for Habitat for Humanity and lead the youth programme at a Methodist church, she said.

"She's very intelligent, smart as a whip," Mr Boatwright said. "All I can say are good things about her."